Thursday, February 15, 2018

Florida School Massacre: A letter from a local high school parent to representative.

By Purple Walrus Press contributor Dolly Tittle of Pittsfield Twp.Dear Ms. Dingell,I have two children in Huron High School in Ann Arbor, a junior and a senior. They are involved in swimming and orchestra in addition to their day to day subjects. This morning my husband made sandwiches for them and put the in brown bags for their lunch. I drew hearts on their brown bags and wrote Valentine messages for them. I told them how much I loved them and reminded them that God is love to go to school and love one another. When they came home I had ordered take out and we all sat down at the table, gave thanks, and enjoyed a meal together.

Ms. Dingell, there were parents in Florida this afternoon who started the day like my husband and I. They did similar things in the morning, but were not able to end the day like we did because our country allows rifles in the style of AR-15s to be easily available. It's been almost 19 years since Columbine and we have still not figured out how to make it difficult for anyone to get their hands on these type of weapons. Today's perpetrator has lived his entire life in an environment where school shootings or any mass shooting in the United State is received with great media coverage and no real change.

Ms. Dingell, this is what I tell my children about gun control, if guns are banned, someone could still kill me with a knife or their hands, but they are going to have to work hard because I will fight back. People with these type of weapons do not give anyone a fighting chance.

In conclusion, I do not know what is this particular perpetrator's story, but I can say that the pattern that I observe in all of these terrible cases are people who are not well adjusted in society. They don't feel included and are not feeling loved. We can do our part as citizens to promote love, and compassion, empathy, and camaraderie to those who are not fitting in. But please, urge your fellow representatives to do whatever is in their power to keep these true weapons of mass destruction away from our kids.